Eric Karabell Football: Insider

AP Photo/Charlie RiedelC.J. Anderson has at least 19 standard fantasy points in five of his past seven games.

Welcome to Week 17 and the final edition of this season’s flex rankings. It’s been an awesome ride! Don’t worry, we’ll have playoff rankings next week -- for the actual NFL playoffs in January -- but for now, for those still competing for a fantasy championship, we salute you and we combine the best of the running backs, wide receivers and tight ends into one nifty package, delivered by Santa Claus himself. Please keep up with the news this weekend and Sunday morning for updates on which players might not play as much as expected.

And as always, best of luck to all in Week 17 and beyond, and Happy Holidays!

1. Le'Veon Bell, RB, Steelers: What more can we say? Terrific season, and he’s likely to end up as the highest-scoring nonquarterback in standard leagues, and surely in PPR formats.

2. Arian Foster, RB, Texans: It’s almost unfair to the Jaguars, in a lost season, having to face this guy who routinely runs all over them.

3. C.J. Anderson, RB, Broncos: Nice ranking for him, but the numbers are there. And the Raiders get run on, of course.

11. Antonio Brown, WR, Steelers: I don’t think enough people realize what Brown has achieved; he’ll end up with the second-most receptions of anyone in any season. And he’s consistent. Should finish as fantasy’s top WR, too.

Wide receiver Calvin Johnson was a first-round pick in many ESPN average live drafts, and first at his position. Matthew Stafford was the fifth quarterback chosen, a fourth-rounder overall. Running back Reggie Bush went before Stafford, with Joique Bell a few rounds later, which obviously was ill-advised. The Detroit Lions were supposed to carry fantasy owners this season, but as in many things in life, some plans get derailed. Stafford is the No. 15 QB. Johnson is barely top-20 among wide receivers. Perhaps the most valuable Lion has been the team’s defense/special teams, third overall after being undrafted. Regardless, it’s Week 16 now, hopefully you’re still playing for something and it’s time for Stafford, Megatron and yes, the outstanding Lions defense to help you out, because it’s Chicago Bears week again!

The rampant complaining about Drew Brees and the underachieving New Orleans Saints seems a bit misplaced in the fantasy football world because, after all, this remains a productive group of fantasy football performers. What has happened recently is not unlike what happens to plenty of other options; when the team faces a favorable matchup, we get outstanding statistics. In tougher matchups, the team struggles. And then every so often something a bit unexplainable occurs, such as in Week 14 when the Saints’ offense, at home against a miserable Carolina Panthers defense, couldn’t do much with it.

The Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears might have laid the proverbial eggs -- turkey eggs, of course -- on Thanksgiving, but this is not the week to start abandoning strong fantasy options. Rip on quarterbacks Tony Romo and Jay Cutler all you like for their proclivity to throw footballs to the other team, for a lack of January success, off-field nonsense or whatever, but track record is important and these are top-10 quarterbacks. And perhaps most importantly on Thursday night these guys will be throwing plenty against each other’s weak defenses and piling up the fantasy points, bringing others along for the ride.

I’m certainly not the fantasy owner/analyst who recommends blindly sticking with the players who got you this far, because it implies that one ignores valuable information that doesn’t allow one’s top lineup to be represented. In other words, consider all possibilities, but don’t simply activate someone solely due to season numbers. In the case of Romo and Cutler, that’s not the overriding factor.

Scott Cunningham/Getty ImagesIsaiah Crowell carried the ball 12 times for 88 yards and two touchdowns in Week 12.

When Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon achieved top fantasy status at his position last season, he and tight end Jordan Cameron were basically the lone Browns players worth relying on. The forgettable tandem of Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden split quarterbacking duties after Brian Hoyer went down with injury, and the team’s leading rusher with 377 yards on a sad 2.7 yards per carry was the currently unemployed Willis McGahee. The current Browns are deep and considerably more talented on offense, and as Gordon made his 2014 season debut with an impressive eight receptions for 120 yards in Sunday’s 26-24 win over the Atlanta Falcons, it was running back Isaiah Crowell who led the team in fantasy points with 20.

Michael Zagaris/Getty ImagesFrank Gore projects to have a solid fantasy outing in Week 9 against the Rams.

When people say that San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore is done as a relevant fantasy option -- and yes, they're saying it! -- and that rookie Carlos Hyde is about to take over as the main backfield presence, I laugh.

Gore is older than the typical top-20 running back, but I still view him as precisely that, a top-20 running back. He sure didn't look too old when he shredded both the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs for better than 100 rushing yards in Weeks 4 and 5, respectively. Now, after a few tough road performances and a bye week, Gore should be in fantasy lineups for a Week 9 home game against the St. Louis Rams. But I suspect he won't be.

I ranked Gore 13th at his position. While it doesn't quite match up with what my colleagues believe, hey, that's OK! It's far better, trust me, if the staff rankings don't match up. It's up to you to decide, and what I'm seeing is a lot of anti-Gore sentiment, which baffles me.

I admit I considered several quarterbacks seemingly unworthy of ever ranking ahead of Brees to do exactly that this week, but I settled on Brees, the No. 17 quarterback for the season, at No. 10. Colleague Matthew Berry placed Brees 12th. I understand why. I originally did the same. Brees isn't exactly dominating in home games, either, and the Lions completely shut down the similarly awesome Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers offense in Week 3, allowing the quarterback 162 passing yards and 10 fantasy points. The Lions, with an improved secondary and terrific pass rush, have yet to allow more than one touchdown pass in any game, though to be fair, facing Teddy Bridgewater, Kyle Orton and Geno Smith the past three weeks isn't exactly, well, Brees.

Brad Barr/USA TODAY SportsLamar Miller is averaging a career-best 5.2 yards per carry, and has 15 catches in five games this season.

Miller ending up a top-10 running back is hardly ridiculous now that he's all alone with little competition on the team's running back depth chart. The Dolphins know what backup Daniel Thomas is capable of, and it isn't much. He didn't even make the team entering the season. Miller has provided double digits in fantasy points in four of five games -- has your top running back? -- and he's on pace for more than 1,000 rushing yards, close to 50 receptions and he could reach double-digit touchdowns. There's not a thing wrong with this, especially when it's tough to find 20 reasonable fantasy running backs. While some might overrate Miller's opportunity now, I think he'll just continue to do what he's doing. That's enough.

There are myriad changes to the fantasy football running back depth chart after Week 5, as injuries removed several starters, while others currently healthy retained their top role and usage altered a few other situations. And yet I'm keeping an eye on the two winless teams because I refuse to believe a viable running back is incapable of coming from the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders. These teams are, not surprisingly, the worst in the NFL in rushing yards per game, but it's possible the underused personnel is in place to change that.

The San Diego Chargers enter Week 4 with their top two running backs on the shelf, which is why the Donald Brown signing this offseason doesn't look so silly or unnecessary any longer. The problem is, of course, that Donald Brown isn't exactly LeSean McCoy at this stage of his career and never really was. Brown was given 31 rushing attempts in Sunday's win at Buffalo, mostly out of necessity, and converted them into a meager 62 yards. Do the math, double your fun. In the second half he gained seven yards on his 15 carries. The guy I'm watching in the San Diego backfield is Branden Oliver, an undrafted rookie out of the University of Buffalo, who twice finished second in the Mid-American Conference in rushing, and has evoked comparisons to a young Darren Sproles in both size and skills.

Well, this has been another fun week so far, eh? Injuries and suspensions and, oh my, all that depth you once had after the draft is suddenly not so special anymore. And here's some more good news: Bye weeks start in Week 4! So that's right, the decisions might become easier because you'll have fewer options at your disposal, but ultimately the bye weeks make roster decisions less satisfying, especially in the flex position, because there aren't enough strong options. Regardless, welcome to Week 3 as we combine the top running backs, wide receivers and tight ends and try to make sense of things. That might be the toughest part.

Best of luck to all in Week 3 and beyond!

1. LeSean McCoy, RB, Eagles: Some believe the emergence of his backup is hurting McCoy's value, but he's actually seeing more touches per game than he was last year. It's early. You certainly can't trust the other top-three running backs from draft day right now!

2. DeMarco Murray, RB, Cowboys: Surprise! Hey, nobody said he wasn't good at football. He's really good. We just worried about health and some foolishly believed this franchise's dreadful defense would mean no running game. Silly people!

3. Arian Foster, RB, Texans: So far, so good, but he's also seeing a ton of touches, so look for that to be kept in check in the coming weeks.

21. Knile Davis, RB, Chiefs: This obviously presumes Jamaal Charles can't suit up, which seemed a given a few days ago, but apparently isn't. Just make sure, because if Charles plays, you won't play Davis.

22. Andre Ellington, RB, Cardinals: Has a new backup running back thanks to Jonathan Dwyer getting deactivated by the team, but it doesn't really matter to Ellington.

23. Julian Edelman, WR, Patriots: I think another 100-reception season is pending.

New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram enters Week 3 fourth at his position in standard scoring with 34 points and alone at the top of the NFL with three rushing touchdowns, yet he won't be adding to those totals for a month after breaking a hand Sunday.

All injuries are a shame and we saw more impactful ones than this in recent days, but for the former Heisman Trophy winner and first-round pick, the first three seasons of his NFL career weren't exactly filled with stardom and he was finally showing major promise. I would have assuredly sold high, for both durability and performance-based reasons -- hey, let's be realistic -- and while the latter hasn't shown up yet, the former clearly has. Still, even with bench space at a premium, try to keep Ingram owned in standard formats.

There was limited movement in the end-of-season rankings after Week 1, because little had changed. It was, after all, only one game. There weren't many major performances or injuries, but of course, that was anything but the case in Week 2. As a result of the many injuries, you'll see some of the top names from draft day slipped in the rankings, because while all players are risks to some degree, when you know a player is hurting, it has to change perceptions and value. We'll discuss the risers and fallers by position, but let this be a reminder that average draft position is meaningless at this point, even if you drafted a week ago. You've already acquired the players, but now it's about winning games.

How bad is most of the NFC East and what does it mean for fantasy football owners? Well, it certainly wasn't pretty for the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants in Week 1, as they looked just terrible on both sides of the ball in losing their openers. It's one game, so nobody should go dropping valuable players, but unless these division foes are facing each other, is it a big deal for us? The Week 2 staff rankings seem to show the concern we have about the three seemingly awful teams, none of which is facing each other this weekend.

Mitch Stringer/USA TODAY SportsBernard Pierce failed to take advantage of his opportunity in Week 1 against the Bengals.

While injuries could potentially leave a few starting running backs unable to play in Week 2 (Ben Tate, Doug Martin), clearly one of the situations to watch will be Thursday night, when the Baltimore Ravens meet the rival Pittsburgh Steelers. I predicted last week that journeyman Justin Forsett would see plenty of opportunities with the Ravens the first two weeks because Bernard Pierce struggled to stay on the field in 2013, and when he was out there, he rarely did something positive. And now, obviously, the entire situation moving forward for this organization has radically changed.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Eric Karabell

Eric Karabell is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He has worked at ESPN since 1997 and covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, specializing in baseball and football. Eric contributes to ESPN The Magazine and appears on a variety of digital platforms for ESPN.com. He has been honored twice as fantasy sports writer of the year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, his blog was named best fantasy baseball series for 2007 and he was inducted into the inaugural FSWA Hall of Fame class in 2011.

Eric grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and accordingly, favors all Philly teams first, his fantasy teams second. He previously served as ESPN.com's lead NBA editor, and is a former Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer. Eric is also the author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments," published by Source Books and available in bookstores and online.